Maybe the last post should have read: Bradley almost gets it right.
Goals by Oguchi Onyewu and Jozy Altidore were equalized by Mexico's Jonny Magallon (didn't Magallon fight Godzilla?) and a Clint Dempsey goal was disallowed, as the Nats drew 2-2 with Mexico at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas.
Almost as if to spite me, following my praise of his selections, Bradley demonstrated that while he may have done a better job preparing the roster, his preparation of the team was truly awful.
The backline of the U.S. was a disorganized mess throughout the match, especially on set pieces, and if it wasn't for a Monk-like performance (see movie Mean Machine) by Timmy Howard, the home side would have been embarassed.
Some of their troubles can be attributed to a lack of practice time as a group, but that is something that every national team coach must deal with. And some certainly deal with it better than others.
In addition, to poor marking on set pieces. The midfield was terrible. While I am a Ricardo Clark supporter, the 'du boys (Adu and Edu) needed to get into the match sooner. We lacked creativity in our attack and Mexico exploited our inability to maintain possession. Drew Moor's deep cross to Altidore for the U.S.'s second goal was a perfect pass, but the first goal was essentially a volleyball set by Landon Donovan that Gooch was able to place past the keeper. It was really a busted play and a defensive lapse by Mexico.
I make no bones about it. I'm an Freddy Adu supporter. But even if you feel he is overrated, you would be hard pressed to deny that his entrance into the game gave the U.S. better build up and better possession. As for the Eddie Lewis sighting, why, oh why, is this guy on the roster. He is absolutely terrible. And don't get me started about Ramiro Corrales.
Despite the fact that this game should have ended 3-2 (since Dempsey's goal was ridiculously disallowed for a phantom offside call by Guatemalan referee Carlos Batres), Bradley hasn't proved that he can incorporate an effective offensive or defensive system. He has some truly gifted attack-minded players and he seems to handcuff them to a punt-and-run, college-style attack. Here's his take on the game from ussoccer.com:
"These kind of games are what the players look forward to and as coaches, we understand that we need this kind of games in order to look hard at our players and our team to find things that we need to improve ... We gain experience against a very good team in an atmosphere that was loud and in a great stadium. We talk about big games, and in terms of understanding how to play in those big matches, tonight was an excellent example."
The only thing that this match was an example of was poor preparation, which is a product of poor coaching, and a change must be made prior to qualification or we'll continue to see "excellent examples" and poor results.
Scoring Summary:USA – Oguchi Onyewu (Landon Donovan) 30th minute
MEX – Jonny Magallon (Pavel Pardo) 35.
USA – Jozy Altidore (Drew Moor) 40.
MEX – Jonny Magallon (Carlos Salcido) 47.
Lineups: USA: 1-Tim Howard; 21-Drew Moor, 3-Carlos Bocanegra (capt.), 22-Oguchi Onyewu, 6-Ramiro Corrales; 10-Landon Donovan, 13-Ricardo Clark (Maurice Edu, 79), 4-Michael Bradley (5-Benny Feilhaber, 63), 15-Bobby Convey (7-Eddie Lewis, 70); 9-Jozy Altidore, 8-Clint Dempsey (19-Freddy Adu, 63)
MEX: 1-Guillermo Ochoa; 2-Jonny Magallon, 3-Carlos Salcido (14-Fausto Pinto, 59) 4-Rafael Marquez (capt.), 5-Israel Castro; 6-Gerado Torrado, 7-Fernando Arce (18-Cesar Villaluz, 90+), 8-Pavel Pardo, 11-Carlos Vela (16-Giovanni Dos Santos, 71); 9-Antonio De Nigris (15-Juan Carlos Cacho, 67), 10-Adolfo Bautista (17-Antonio Naelson, 71)
